Important Steps for Parents Applying for Primary and Secondary School Places in 2025
Starting Primary or Secondary School in September 2025
It is an important decision for many families when considering which schools to apply for when your child is starting school in reception, or transferring to secondary school Year 7 from primary school Year 6. Sefton Council has prepared two guides which provides parents/carers with lots of helpful and important information to guide you through the school admissions process.
It is very important that you read both guides before submitting an application for your child’s school place. To help decide which schools you would like to apply for you should:
Read the Parents Guide - applying for school places 2025.
View Sefton Primary & Secondary Schools Admissions Information Guide to find schools in your area.
Look at the admissions criteria for all the schools you are considering.
Think about which criterion your application would be considered under and review the numbers of successful applications in each criterion for previous years. This should help inform your choices and chances of a successful application.
Contact the school to enquire about open evenings/days or personal visits.
Look at other sources of information such as school website and Ofsted reports.
If applying to a faith school complete the supplementary information forms (which you should request directly from the school) if you want to be considered under a faith criterion. You will see if this is required for your preferred schools by reading the Schools Information Guide.
Look at whether you child would qualify for home to school transport for the schools you are considering - this can be found in Section C of the Guide for Parents.
Applying for a primary or secondary school place - Guide for Parents
The Guide for Parents includes information about:
The closing dates and deadlines for applications (also shown below).
How applications should be submitted.
How the Local Authority processes both primary and secondary applications.
What happens if your application is late.
What to do if you are moving house during the application period.
How and when you will receive your offer of a school place around the national offer days.